Rugby coach sold drugs from Leeds home

Tony Gardner

A rugby coach who began dealing drugs to pay off mounting debts has been jailed for two years.

Nathan Murphy, 20, was handed the sentence after a court heard how he was caught by police selling heroin and crack cocaine from his home in Harehills, Leeds.

Officers observed Murphy meeting a woman outside his home on Bayswater Mount, Harehills, on September 18 last year and an exchange taking place between them.

Murphy was then seen carrying out another exchange in the street with a man five minutes later. Officers stopped Murphy in the street later that day and found him in possession of three wraps of heroin and two of cocaine. He also had £205 in cash.

His home was searched and 27 further wraps of class A drugs were found.

Murphy pleaded guilty to two offences of possession of a class A drug with intent to supply.

Stuart Field, mitigating, said Murphy was a hard working young man who was studying to be a rugby coach.

Mr Field said his client was struggling financially at the time of the offending after discovering he was going to be a father.

He borrowed money from someone but was struggling to pay the sum back and was asked to sell drugs in order to clear the debt.

Mr Field added: “He is a young man embarking on fatherhood and it is a dreadful shame that this fall from grace, his first and hopefully his last, has come at such a critical stage in his life.

Recorder Gregory Perrins said he was unable to suspend the prison sentence as the offences were too serious. He said: “You took a conscious decision to sell drugs to raise money.